Last summer I found a potential bouldering area in NW Sydney while at work. I went back and for day and did a few problems V1 - V3 and looked at some much harder lines aswell. I think there could be potential for 20-30 problems - many quite hard.

I was going to develop the area and then let the chockstones know but I have two young kids and a screaming wife so that remains a pipe dream. So if anyone is intresested head out there and let me know what you think and if you unearth any gems. I look forward to going back and getting on some nice established problems.

The crag is located of Bannerman Road, Glenhaven. Park outside the pony club then head into the bush just left of the dressage arena, down a faint track. The cliff is just here - an easy 3 minutes from the car.

The crag has some steep sections and some vertical areas, the rock is good quality though a little blank in places. Should clean up well. I think there would be a heap of other areas in that valley aswell.

pat reynolds & i believe shaun powell put up a bunch of problems there several years ago & i came through in about 03/04 but didnt do anything worthwhile. we had a few sessions down there last year since its about 800m from where i was living. theres much better stuff very close by, you should get in touch with pat to give you a tour

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i have a little concern regarding the log posted today regarding the discovery of "bouldering in bannerman rd glenhaven". i'm all for new adventures but this one really caught my attention for reasons that largely are unknown to the general public. i have grown up not far from here and just by chance the office of the company for which i work is located in bannerman rd. which is why i am aware of the significance of this valley.

but getting to the point, the cliff and cave sites at bannerman rd are actually some of the last remaining aboriginal stencil and etched sites left intact and unaltered in the sydney area.
most discoveries of sites throughout the greater sydney area (largely the hornsby plateau through to the hawkesbury)were made known in the sixties and have since largley been destroyed.
the bannerman rd sites were discovered many years ago and have largely been kept a secret for fear they too would be damaged. these days very few significant cultural discoveries are made known to the public.

the bannerman rd stencils are on the register thus affording them full protection (and the fines are hefty according to one previous successful prosecution of an overzealous neighbouring developer).

the company i work for does faunal, floral and archeological assessment for all sorts of development and rehabilitation (and while we have'nt done one for the sites of bannerman rd and most likely will never be asked) i would highly doubt that bouldering or climbing on or near the sites would be permitted. in fact there is a paragraph which states it clearly in the legislation.

I've gone looking around Bannerman road for a local bouldering crag and yesterday I thought that Porkpie had helped to find my Eldorado.

There is a lot of rock in that valley, so I'm wondering if it's possible to boulder without disturbing the cultural sites.

Neil, is there any way you could confirm with Kev if he is talking about the same location
as Porkpie?

PS Josh, if Pat's available I'd love to go for a tour. How how would I get in touch?

PPS. I stumbled across both the Trenches and the Frontline around '87 - '88 but forgot about both of them as they weren't the rumored mega cliff we were searching for, to go...... (I'm blushing) ABSEILING!!!

Glad I posted the info before I tried to develop the area as I was unaware of any Aboriginal significance. Thanks for the heads up - I will stick to the other great areas around the hills.

I would recommend everyone stays away from the area, the last thing we want is to upset land managers as they may then try to close the current climbing areas.

It is good that people are trying to preserve these areas but when they are so close suburbia it is only a matter of time before these areas are discovered (and rediscovered) and human impact occurs. There needs to be some way climbers can check the status of areas before developing a crag - not easy to do the when secrecy is the policy land managers use to 'protect' an area.

i suggest that the 'representing bodies' for climbing like cliff care, climbing anchors etc, should put some money towards creating signage for this area, stating that all forms of climbing and abseiling is banned from this area.
with liasing with the council and any other appropriate bodies, the climbing commumity will be viewed inhigh esteem.

it costs about $25 to make the signs in steel and around $60 a pole and concrete

On 19/05/2009 oldfella wrote:>i suggest that the 'representing bodies' for climbing like cliff care,>climbing anchors etc, should put some money towards creating signage for>this area, stating that all forms of climbing and abseiling is banned from>this area.>with liasing with the council and any other appropriate bodies, the climbing>commumity will be viewed inhigh esteem.>>it costs about $25 to make the signs in steel and around $60 a pole and>concrete

I agree that would be a nice gesture from Cliffcare, but also suggest that those that discover such things have a duty of care to inform others as well. If it hadn't been mentioned in an obscure climbing forum, no-one would be any the wiser.

On 19/05/2009 oldfella wrote:>i suggest that the 'representing bodies' for climbing like cliff care,>climbing anchors etc, should put some money towards creating signage for>this area, stating that all forms of climbing and abseiling is banned from>this area.

That would be a good idea, if not for the fact that Cliff Care is now defunct due to problems with liability insurance and Climbing Anchors is a online gear shop.

Sure, Climbing Anchors runs a rebolting fund but I don't believe it pretends to be a 'representative body for climbing' in any respect.

I haven't spoken to Steve about this but I'm pretty sure I'm correct on this point.

I imagine the closest thing in New South Wales to a 'representative body for climbing' is the Sydney Rockclimbing Club.

I think protection by not releasing knowledge of these pictographs is not in there best interests. If I found middens, pictographs etc at what looked good climbing I would remove them as to make sure climbing access was not threatend. I would assume there existance was not known.

On 19/05/2009 rodw wrote:>On 19/05/2009 oldfella wrote:>>i suggest that the 'representing bodies' for climbing like cliff care,>>climbing anchors etc,>>>it costs about $25 to make the signs in steel and around $60 a pole and>>concrete>>Why not do it yourself, why ask them to do it...Im sure they got enough>to do?>

i don't mind doing it myself. however wouldn't it be more appropriate to raise the issue / question with the wider climbing community first and then acting through the appropriate channels.

however you have a point that, perhaps those who want to preserve the area should do something about it.

On 19/05/2009 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:>wallwombat wrote;>>I imagine the closest thing in New South Wales to a 'representative body>for climbing' is the Sydney Rockclimbing Club.>>... some on CragX may disagree?>;-)>;-)>;-)